Where are the Sentinels When You Need Them?
by MikeJaffa
Summary: Kitty ends up advising Illyana on her new costume.


TITLE: Where are the Sentinels When You Need Them?  
AUTHOR: MikeJaffa  
SYNPOSIS: Kitty ends up advising Illyana on her new costume.  
DISCLAIMER: Marvel Owns the X-Men and the New Mutants  
AUTHOR's NOTE: The new New Mutants book is five months away as I write this, and I have no idea what Hickman is going to do in House of X and Powers of X, so I don't know what the writers are going to do. But a social media post about Illyana's look inspired me. And along the way, I answered another question that has been dogging me: Why did Illyana's costume change before the Dead Souls miniseries?

8

8

8

"Kitty!" Dani Moonstar called.

Walking down a hall towards her room in the House of X on Krakoa island, Kitty turned around. "Yeah?"

Danni was leaning out of a door. "Got a sec?"

"Sure-"

Danni grabbed Kitty's hand. "Great!" She yanked Kitty into a dorm room. There stood Illyana Rasputin, back in human from, wearing what Kitty had often thought of as her black go-go-dance-from-heck look.

Dani had a smile locked on her face. "See, here's your soulmate, all back to normal and ready for action."

"Yeah," Kitty said. "'Yana, I'm sorry I haven't caught up yet. Things have been more nuts than usual-"

"Anyway," Dani said, face frozen in a smile, as she began to edge around Kitty towards the door, "'Yana here has an important decision to make, and while I would love to help, I just remembered I have a meeting with the prof. But you're her best friend, right? So you can help her?"

"Well, of course-"

"Knew you would, Kitty! Gotta run. Ciao!" If Dani had raced out the door any faster, there would have been a sonic boom.

Kitty turned back to Illyana, and for the first time noticed that her blonde best friend was nervous.

Illyana never got nervous. Nervousness and any form of fear were just not part of the equation. Normally.

Kitty said, "'Yana? What is it?"

"Um, Kitty, would you mind if we went to Limbo? It would be easier if I do this there."

Illyana never asked to take anyone to Limbo, either. "Sure."

They vanished into a disk of light.

8

8

Kitty lost track of time in the palace's throne room. While S'ym looked on, Kitty ended up lounging on the throne as Illyana stood before a full-length mirror. Silver flames flashed around the blonde witch, changing her costume: Everything from a copy of the old New Mutants uniform to the go-go-dancer-from-heck and every possibility in between—some skin exposed, little exposed, yellow, black, mixes of yellow and black, cloak, no cloak…

She always turned to get Kitty's approval. And when Kitty approved, Illyana made a face, turned away, and changed the costume again.

Finally, Kitty got off the throne and exclaimed, "OK! We've been at this for…I don't know how long. I'll probably be old and gray when we get back at this rate. You're more nervous than I've ever…check that. I've never seen you nervous. No one has, or if anyone has, that person is probably in a shallow grave somewhere or S'Ym had him for dinner. But you're obviously freaking out over something. So why don't you take a deep breath and tell your best friend what the blazes is going on here before I go STARK! RAVING! BUGHOUSE!?" (Out of the corner of her eye, Kitty saw S'Ym give her a thumb's up, but Illyana didn't see it and Kitty made a point of not reacting to it.)

Illyana nodded. "Ok, ok. But you can't tell anyone—especially Rahne. If you do, she'll freak out."

"Rahne?" Kitty didn't hide her surprise. Kitty was Illyana's best friend, and Illyana had been tight with Dani from their days in the original New Mutants. And of course, Illyana was close to her brother, Peter. But other than being a teammate with religious objections to being in close proximity to an actual demon sorceress, Kitty couldn't think of Rahne as being more than on the periphery of Illyana's circle. Why was the young werewolf so important now? "What about Rahne?" Kitty asked.

"Promise, Kitty."

"I promise. You were saying?"

"You know what a familiar is, right?"

"Kinda. It's a pet demon, right?"

"Well…yes and no. I mean S'Ym is a pet demon, even when he's rebelling against me, but I wouldn't call him a familiar. The connection is…stronger. Literally soulmates, because you have to claim the familiar's soul and corrupt it. But then it does your will. All you have to do is think what you want…theoretically. Never actually did it myself. But anyway, typically—though not always—the familiar has the aspects of an elemental or an animal spirit."

Kitty's eyes widened. "You want to turn Rahne into a familiar!?"

"Oh, no, Kitty! I'd never do that. Rahne is my friend. I would never corrupt and claim her soul. Not in a million years."

"Oh, good," Kitty said, and she thought, 'What does it say about my life that I can have this conversation and at no point ask, "And when did you stop taking your meds, 'Yana?"'

Illyana went on, "But the demon sorceress part of me kind of sees Rahne as a familiar because she's a werewolf and technically an animal spirit, so she…I…want to things work just right with her. You just have to…mesh, like hand in glove, or two sides of a coin. That's why I've always been worried about what she thinks of me. And that's why I went back to an older style uniform when I reformed the New Mutants with Shan's backing."

"Right," Kitty said, "I was wondering why you did that."

"Well, part of it is because Shan was corporate, but also, well…there's no polite way to say it, but Rahne is a little prepressed. We hadn't spoken in a long time—feels like years—and…I…was worried Rahne would be offended if I was running around with the girls hanging out there for everybody to see."

"And now?" Kitty asked.

"Now, I'm a little more relaxed," Illyana said, "so I don't think it would be a problem, but at the same time, I don't want to push it."

"I see. Um, 'Yana, if I make a suggestion, will you follow it?"

"Of course!"

"Good. Go back to the go-go-dancer-from-heck look."

Illyana's clothes changed.

"All right," Kitty said thoughtfully, "let me seeeee…ok! Close the boob window."

The boob window sealed itself, filling in with black weather.

Illyana prompted, "What else? The bare midriff?"

"Uh, no. The boob window will be enough."

"You sure?"

"Of course," Kitty said. "Rahne knows who she's dealing with you; she doesn't expect you to dress like something out of The Handmaid's Tale. So you can be just a touch more modest while still being recognizably you."

"Wellll…"

Kittly almost panicked at the thought of Illyana going through another hundred costume changes. "Illyana. Have I ever steered you wrong?"

"No."

"Then this will work, 'Yana. Trust me."

Illyana smiled. "Ok, Kitty."

"Good. Can we go home, now, please?"

"Of course."

They vanished into a disk of light. S'Ym counted to ten and when Illyana and Kitty didn't reappear, he let out a long breath.

8

8

Kitty wasn't in the New Mutants' first team meeting, but she saw them coming back along the path from the glade they had been meeting in. Everyone was in a good mood. Rahne was walking alongside Dani and not visibly talking to Illyana. Illyana brought up the rear with a neutral look on her face.

Kitty sidled over to Illyana and asked, "Everything ok?"

"Yes."

"No problems with Rahne?"

"I don't know what you mean, Kitty." She headed on her way without another word.

Kitty stood in the middle of the path and watched the sorceress walk away. "Glad I could help."

8

8

Kitty heard a knock on her doorframe and heard Rahne's voice: "Kitty? Got a minute?"

Kitty turned around at her desk. Rahne was standing in the doorway, looking nervous.

Kitty said, "Sure. What is it?"

Rahne edged into the room. "It's about Illyana."

Kitty's eyes widened. "What's she done?"

"What? Oh, no, she hasn't done anything. It's about me and…um…can you keep this in confidence, Kitty? If Illyana hears a word of this, she'll freak."

Kitty said, "Never leaves this room." And she thought, 'Oh, no. God, what did I do in a past life to deserve this?'

"See, I know my beliefs may seem silly," Rahne said, "especially when we've fought demons and been to Asgard and all. But I still see myself as a minister of the Lord, and somehow or other, I ended up as seeing Illyana as, well…my flock. I guess that makes me a shepherd with one sheep, and a really tough case besides, but it counts. And as such, in that capacity-"

Someone darted past the door behind Rahne, and Kitty dared to hope. "DANI! Is that you?"

Dani stuck her head in the door. "Yeah, Kitty. What's up?"

Kitty darted past Rahne. She got behind Dani, put her hands on Dani's shoulders, and steered her into the room as she said, "Rahne here has a really important question to ask, and I would love to help, but I just remembered I have a really important meeting with the prof and I have to go right now."

Dani looked over her shoulder. "Oh you do, do you?"

"Yes, I do. Super important. Can't waste another minute. But you're Rahne's best friend so you've got this. I have complete faith in you. Gotta run. Ciao!" Kitty let go of Dani's shoulders and phased through the floor as fast as she could.

8

8

"Emma?" Charles Xavier asked.

"Yes?" Emma Frost replied.

"Do you still have a phone number for someone at the Office of National Emergency?"

"I think I may have one somewhere. Why?"

"I think we could use a sentinel attack right about now."

"Oh, the witch and the werewolf? Fortunately, when I moved here, I brought along a couple of cases of vodka for just such…emergencies."

"Lead on."

THE END


End file.
